Our privacy policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your personal information to ensure your data is handled with care and transparency.

This Privacy Policy explains how The OCD Psychologist (“we”, “our”, “us”) collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you visit our website, contact us, or use our services.

We are committed to complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and all relevant professional and ethical guidelines.

Because we provide psychological services, we may process information that is considered special category data. We treat this information with the highest level of confidentiality.

We may collect the following types of personal data:

a) Basic information

• Name, address, date of birth, email address, and telephone number.

b) Health and well-being information (special category data)

• Information about your mental health, physical health, symptoms, therapy goals, and relevant personal history, provided by you as part of our work together.

c) Administrative and payment information

• Invoices, payment details, and appointment history.

d) Website and communication data

• IP address, browser type, pages visited, email communications, and online booking details (if applicable).

We use your personal data to:

• Arrange, deliver, and manage psychological services.
• Maintain accurate clinical records.
• Communicate with you about appointments and therapy.
• Process payments and manage invoices.
• Comply with legal, regulatory, and professional obligations.
• Improve our services and website.

We will never sell or rent your personal information to anyone.

Under UK GDPR, we process your personal data on one or more of the following legal bases:

• Contract – to provide you with psychological services.
• Consent – for specific activities such as liaising with other professionals.
• Legal obligation – to comply with the law and professional regulations.
• Legitimate interests – to run and improve our business.

For special category data, we rely on the additional legal basis of:

• Provision of health or social care under Article 9(2)(h) UK GDPR

We will only share your data where necessary and with your consent, unless there is a legal or safeguarding requirement to do so. This may include:

• GP, psychiatrist, or other health professionals involved in your care (with your consent).
• Legal or regulatory bodies (if required by law).
• Emergency services if there is a serious risk of harm to you or others.
• IT, administrative, or accounting service providers bound by confidentiality agreements.

We are required by professional and legal standards to keep adult client records for a minimum of 7 years after the end of therapy. For children and young people, records are kept until their 25th birthday (or 26th if aged 17 at the end of therapy). After this period, records are securely destroyed.

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Request deletion of your data (unless we are legally required to keep it).
• Restrict or object to certain processing.
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent where consent was the basis for processing.

To exercise your rights, contact us using the details in section 10.

Our website may use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and collect anonymous usage statistics. You can disable cookies through your browser settings. See our Cookie Policy for more details.

We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal data, including:

• Storing electronic records on encrypted devices or secure cloud systems.
• Using password protection and two-factor authentication.
• Locking any paper records in secure storage.
• Limiting access to authorised personnel only.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how your data is handled, please contact:

The OCD Psychologist
Email: admin@theocdpsychologist.com

If you are unhappy with our response, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Website: www.ico.org.uk